Michigan Vamp

My Old License Plate

Eccentric Night Owl

Quote from Blood Read

"An ambiguously coded figure, a source of both erotic anxiety and corrupt desire, the literary vampire is one of the most powerful archetypes bequeathed to us from the imagination of the nineteenth century."~ page 2 introduction to Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture

Intellectual Vampire Quote

"If the vampire is an other, he or she was always a figure in whom one could find one's self...the despicable as well as the defiant, the shameful as well as the unashamed, the loathing of oddness as well as pride in it."~ Richard Dyer

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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Hi, Roxanne! Thank you so much for having me here today. And hello to all you wonderful readers who took time out to visit!

Roxanne was kind enough to invite me here to talk about my new release from Noble Romance, and my first “official” published work, “Angels Would Fall.” So I guess I should start at the beginning.

One day, not nearly as long ago as it feels, I entered a writing contest on a site I’m a member of. The idea was to write supernatural erotica, preferably with a romantic bent. But…I’m a HORROR writer! Sure, I’ve got some erotic and romantic material in my stories, but specifically romance?!

It’s a quirk of mine that I’ll try almost anything once. (Seafood, guys, and vegetables are about the only exceptions!) So I decided to give it a whirl. Needing caffeine and inspiration, I took a drive. Then Melissa Etheridge came up on my MP3 player, and a plot bunny showed up. And another. And they bred. Like…well, like bunnies. By the time I got home, I had a story.

It was a couple of months before I learned that the story had split first prize in the contest, much to my surprise. Then my wife suggested that I try to get it published, an idea that I thought certainly qualified as madness. There’s no market for short stories right now, I said. No one’s going to want to publish this, I said.

Wrong on both counts. And I’ve never been so delighted to be wrong!

So enjoy this excerpt from “Angels Would Fall,” and if you want the really hot stuff, pick up a copy! I promise you won’t be disappointed! J

Angels Would Fall Description:

Take one more, ferry her along. Soulbearer Moradiel recounts hisduties while collecting his latest assignment, nurse Ariel. Tragicaccident--seems simple.But in the RN's final moments asleep at the wheel of her speeding car,stirrings grip Moradiel's angelic heart. Stirrings so forbidden thatsimply give them voice is to risk expulsion from his Heavenly abode.

Out of time and faced with the most difficult decision in his eternalexistence, Moradiel finds himself torn between saving the only womanhe's ever loved or throwing the balance between Heaven and Hell intochaos.

Duty or desire? Moradiel must choose

Special Elements: M/F sensuality religious and angelic themes

Excerpt:

Moradiel stared down at the bridge, his dark wings furled around him. Any moment now, a white Ford Taurus would fly around the curve at an unsafe rate of speed, the driver exhausted from a long night at work. The car would hit the concrete pylons flanking the north side of the bridge. Its gas tank would rupture, and by the time the fire crews arrived on scene, the vehicle would be little more than slag and the driver ashes.

The driver's soul, on the other hand, would be safely on its way to Heaven. He knew this, for it was his task to collect it.

This, in itself, was nothing new. He was a seraph, and served the Most High by assisting Azrael, the Angel of Death. Moradiel, a Soulbearer, ferried the worthy, newly dead to Heaven and their eternal reward. He had performed this task millions of times; from the newborn lost before drawing its first breath, to the most ancient souls ever to walk the planet. None had ever aroused the slightest feeling of pity or regret.

After all, with them going on to a far better place than this imperfect world would ever be, why should they garner his concern? Surrounded by the eternal glory of the One who'd created the universe simply by whispering Its name into the void. Surely, nothing there to mourn.

But all that had changed three days earlier, when he'd received this latest task and arrived to perform the necessary preambles.

Alighting outside the cozy, well-maintained house in the first light of day, he set the owls in the trees around the yard to hooting. Later, in the brazen light of mid-afternoon, when his latest assignment had headed out the door for work, he'd arranged for a crow, a bird not common to the area, to perch on the low fence and caw. Any of the ancients would have been familiar with these harbingers of death, seizing their amulets and mumbling prayers to ward off the impending doom. Most modern humans paid such signs little heed, but Moradiel had been at this task far too long not to pay obeisance to the traditions.

Ariel had drawn herself up short, a slight brunette with the face of a gamine—pretty, playful. Her mouth puckered into a quizzical expression at the crow. She shrugged off the uneasiness and checked herself yet again to make sure her ice-blue nurse's uniform looked presentable. The pageboy-cut hair cupped her ears in a fetching manner as she hurried to her car and off down the road for yet another long night.

A little about J.S. Wayne:

Born in Amarillo, Texas, J.S. Wayne has lived, worked, or traveled in approximately two thirds of the North American continent and has amassed a resume that could kindly be described as “eclectic.” He currently resides in the Texas Panhandle with his wife, a vicious attack cat, and a terrier puppy who believes socks are a threat to national security. In his laughably sparse spare time, he enjoys reading, scary movies, strategy games, and collecting obsolete weapons.

His professional writing credits include two current novels, Shadowphoenix: Requiem and Wail; two short stories, “Angels Would Fall” and, as part of the Red Roses and Shattered Glass anthology of dark erotica, “Espiritu Sancti,” both currently available from Noble Romance Publishing; and a host of poetry and work-in-progress novels and short stories, including a nascent graphic novel with artist extraordinaire Bill Fish, who created the covers for J.S.’s first two novels, his website, and took the photos J.S. uses for various publicity needs.